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MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS 

OF THE 



REQUITED LABOR CONVENTION, 

n 

HELD IN PHILADELPHIA, 



The 17tU and IStfc of tlie Fifth month. 



AND BV ADJOURNMENT ON 



The 5th and 6th of the Ninth mouth, 1838. 



-*>K§BJ<<*- 



PHILADELPHIA: 
PRINTED BY M E R K I H E W AND G U N N , 
No. 7 Curler's Alley. v 

1838. 






3 6 5- «? o -^ 



MINUTES. 



At a Meeting of the Delegates to the Requited Labor Convention 

rriTtCis'asr^" ^-^^^ ^^ ''- ^^"->'^--- ^ai,, f^: 

m^^^A Pi''^^''^T ""^^ "^^"^^ *^ ^'^^^' by William C. Betts of 
Philadelphia, and on motion, William Bassett, of Lynn Massarhn 
setts was appointed President; William C. Betts, of Philadebhia' 
and Ahce Ehza Hambleton, of Chester County, Secretanesf^ '' 
Ihe follovvmg call for the Convention was then read: 
To Anti-Slavery Societies and Individuals throughout the 

United States. 
"Fellow Citizens :-Being persuaded that the final overthrow 
of slavery would be greatly accelerated by general abstinence from 
the proceeds of slave labor, and having corresponded with differed 
societies and mdividua s on the subject, it is agreed to hold a 
convention of men and women, in Philadelphia, the 17th day of 
the Fi th month (May) next, to form a Nationa Requited Shor 
Association; the object of which shall be to operate on the mind of 
he community, by exhibiting the relation the consumer sustains ^o 
he slaveholder and pursuing, ourselves, a course consistent as 
abolitionists; and to devise means for obtaining articles produced 
by fi-eemen, whereby we may be enabled with less difficultvlo 
refrain from partaking of goods procured through the unrequited 
abor of the slave and immediately to cease from encouraS and 

aS^^^l tyILm " "' ^'^'"'^''"^ " "'^'^^^'"^^^ ''' "-'g^'^-- 
" Societies, friendly to the measure, are requested to send dele 

gat^s; and individuals approving the object, are invited to attend 

and be with them as members of the Convention " 

The names of the delegates were then enrolled, as follows : 

^ CLARKSox A. s. s. Amy Preston, 

Alice Eliza Hambleton, Charles Hambleton, 

Joseph Moore, Jeremiah Whitson, 

Phebe Hadley, William Jackson. 

™h Hambleton, Lindley Coates, 

Kest Ehza Lambourn, Joseph Fulton, 

Deborah S. Coates, Thomas Worrel, 

Kachel Ann Lambourn, Isaac Moore, 

Lienor Brinton, Eli Hambleton. 



MIT^TTTES or TUT. 



CITY AND COUNTY A. S. S. 
William C. Belts, 
Edward M. Davis, 
Benjamin S. .lones, 
David Sellers, 
Peter Wright, 
Henry Grew, 
Daniel Neall, sr. 
Warner Justice, 
William Marott, 
James M. Jackson. 

LYNN (mass.) a. S. S. 

William Bassett, 
James P. Boyce. 

KENNETT A. S. S. 

John Cox, 
iienjamin Pyle, 
Mabie Pyle, 
Hannah Cox, 
B. Fussell, 
John Agnew, 
John J. Philips, 
Henry Brosius, 
Jacob Pierce, 
Sarah T. Harvey. 

WILHERFORCE A. S. S. 

Samuel Jones, 
John J. Baker, 
Jonathan J. Lewis, 
John Pugh, 
Thomas Adamson, 
.lames Hardy, 
George W. Lewis, 
Hannah P. Jones, 
Uacht'l Jonas, 
E. M. Pugh. 

JUNIOR A. S. S. 

Daniel L. Miller, jr. 
Joseph Parrish, jr. 
E. Squibb, 
Samuel J. Levick, 
Thomas Foulk, 
J. P. Kills, 
(;. D. Jones, 
J. H. Johnson. 

ASSOCIATION OF FRIENDS FOR A 
VOCATINC; THE CAUSE OF Tl 
SLAVE, &C. 

John H. Cavender, 
Caleb Clothier, 
James Molt, 
Esther S. Justice, 
Deborah Mar.ill, 



Margarett C. Atlee, 
iiarah G. Wayne, 
Hannah Williams, 
Lucretia Mott, 
Lydia White, 
Isaac Coates, 
Emmor Kimber, jr. 
John Atkinson, jr. 
Mary L. Rowland, 
Mary Sleeper, 
Beulah Passmore, 
Lydia Kimber, 
Huldah Justice, 

OXFORD FREE PRODUCE ASSOCIA- 
TION. 
Daniel Kent, 
John Hambleton, 
Agnes Cook, 
Uuth Hambleton. 
NORTHERN LIHERTIES A. S. S. 
Lucas Gillingham, 
James Ti. Pierce, 
Ralph Smith, 
James McCrummill, 
William Deal, Jr. 

Elizabeth Gillingham, 

Mary P. Egan, 

Rebecca Hawkins, 

Mary B. Smith, 

Elizabeth Henley, 

Edwin GrifBn. 

COLERAIN A. S. S. 
William Brosius, 
W. L. Rakestraw, 
Martha Clendenon, 
Sarah Hagerty. 

BURLINGTON CITY A. S. S. 

David Oliver, 

John Farrish, 

Joseph Beldon. 
RUCKINlillAM FEM.\LE A. S. S. 

Martha Smith, 

Elizabeth Kly, 

Mary W. Magill, 

Mary Beans, 
I). Ann J. Paxon, 
,£ Mary Johnson, 

Tracy Purry, 

Beulah Ann Smith. 

DELAWARE COUNTY A. S. S. 
Joseph Rhoads, sr. 
John Sellers, jr. 
Ann E. Sellers, 



REQUITED LABOR COXVEXTION. 



Anna Poole. 

LV.\X FEMALE A. S. S. 

Miriam B. Johnson, 
Eienor Johnson, 
Hannah Alley, 
Abigail L. Bread, 
Abby Kelly. 

KniBERTON A. S. S. 

John Thomas, 

Bartholomew Fussell, 

Mary Halderman, 

Henry Royer, 

Gertrude Kimber, 

Esther Hawley, 
Jesse Hawley, 
Mary Ann Lewis, 
Grace Ann Lewis, 
Abigail Kimber, 
Lydia M. Fussell, 
Henry Kimber, 
Norris INIavis. 

SNOAVHILL AND MOUNT ZIONA. S. S. 
Arthur Boyer, 
Isaac Clement. 

PHILADELPHIA CITY A. S. S. 

William A. Garrigues, 
Robert Biddle, 
David Sellers, 
Samuel Webb, 
Charles C. Jackson, 
VVilliam C. Belts, 
Charles Wise, 
Thomas Hansell, 
Robert McClure, 
Daniel Neall, jr. 

FRANKFORD A. S. S. 

S. W. Pickering, 
S. Williams, 
G. L. Gillingham, 
Mahlon Murphy, 
Isaac Whitelock, 
Amos Thorp, 
J. H. Webster, 
Enoch Roberts, 
Edwin Fulton, 
William Murphy, 
N. HiUes, 
John G. Lewis, 
Elizabeth Whitelock, 
Ann L. Gillingham, 
Naomi Murphy, 
Mary P. New bold, 
Susan Roberts, 
Letitia Murphy, 



Sarah Cowley, 
Mary Ann Webster, 
E. D. Newbold, 
Sarah Whitelock, 
Eliza Gillingham, 

SPRING GARDEN A. S. S. 

George M. Alsop, 
Enoch Stratton, 
Warner Justice, 
Francis Mitchell, 
Middleton Morris, 
Samuel Ross, 
David Coggins, 
Samuel D. Hastings, 
Daniel Longstreth, 
Joseph M. Truman, 
John Longstreth, 
Ebenezer S. Davis, 
Jacob S. Brotherton, 
Josiah Bond, 
Albert Middleton. 

BUCKS COUNTY A. S. S. 

Joshua Dungan, 
Richard Janney, 
Jonathan P. Magill, 
Joseph Janney, 
William H. Johnson, 
Joseph Yard ley, 
Martha Smith, 
S. Janney, 
Beulah Ann Smith, 
Mary Johnson, 
Harriet P. Johnson, 
M. W. Magill, 
Penquite Linton, 
Charles Swain, 
Thomas Janney, 
M. B. Linton, 
Ann J. Passon, 
Ann Buckman, 
Sarah Beans, 
Trancenia Janney. 

WEST CHESTER A. S. S. 

Hannah Covington, 
Lucretia Fleming, 
I'hebe Darlington, 
Henrietta Simmons. 

EAST-FALLOWFIELD A. S. S. 

James Fulton, jr. 
Enoch Harlon, 
Samuel Penninaion, 
C. Taylor. 
George Baker, 
Susan Taylor, 



MINUTES OF THE 



Mary Liikens, jr. 
Sarah Naylor, 
Mary Ann Coates. 
PHIL VDKLPillA FEMALE A S. S. 
Mary K. Fennock, 
Sarah Lewis, 
Sarah Pierson, 
Elizabeth Bunting, 
Elizabeth Neall, 
Rachel Sellers, 
Anna Banting, 
Mary Corlies, 
Theressa Kimber, 
Sarah Dorsey, 
Margaret Randolph, 
Sarah Palmer, 

Hetty Burr, 
Jane Smith, 

A. Warrington, 

Snsan Haydock, 

Mary Needles, 

Sarah Parke, 

Sarah Shaw, 

Mary Townsend, 

Mary Gillingham, 

Sidney Ann 'Lewis, 

Lydia W. Ellis, 

Sarah Jackson, 

Sarah M.Crimke, 

Sarah Pugh, 

C. Eckstein. 

NAMES OF INDIVIDI'ALS ENROLL 
ED AVIIO WEKE NOT DELEGATES. 

Esther Hayes, 
Sarah Mc(/rummill, 
L. R. Lukens, 
John Cross, 
Lewis C. Guiin, 



Thomas E. Chapman, 
A. L. I'ennock, 
Mary H. Vickers. 
Alanson St. (Mair, 
■ Joseph Gibbons, 
Joseph L. Pennock, 
Rebecca S. Sellers, 
Martha R. Ellis, 
Rachel B. Moore, 
Beulah Moore, 
John Jones, 
Susan H. Luther, 
Mary Spencer, 
Joseph Sharpless, 
Elizabeth Pierce, 
Mary L. Cox, 
Joseph S. Pierce, 

Charles Cadwallader, 

Alice Sellers, 

Elizabeth Kent, 

Mary Darlington, 

Mary Shaw, 

Mira Orum, 

Nathan Thorne, 

J. F. Temple, 

Charles C. Burleigh, 

Elizabeth ]\L Jacobs, 

Sarah A. Speakman, 

Jonathan Lambourn, jr. 

Jane Johnson, 

Abby Bowman, 

Sarah Webb, 

Mary Grew, 

Sarah G. Little, 

Hannah Townsend, 

Lydia Lukens, 

Sarah S. Truman, 
Elizabeth Shaw, 
Susan W. Shaw. 



It was, then , _ • , t u 

Resolved, That we proceed to form a National Requited Labor 
Association, and that a Committee be appointed to drall a Constitu- 
tion for said Association. AVhereupon the following were appointed, 
viz • Lewis C. Gttnn, of Philadelphia ; Henry Grew, do. ; \V illiam 
Bassett, Lynn, Massachusetts ; William Jackson, Cliester county, 
Pennsylvania ; Alice Kliza Htimbleton, do. 

\ ('onnnittee was appointed to prepare business for the Conven- 
tion, consisting of Lin.llev Coat.-s, Lancast.M" county, Pennsylvania; 
William H. Johnson, Bucks c.mnty, P.-nnsylvania; Alanson bt 
Clair, Massachus..tts; BarthoKm.ew Fuss.ll, Chester co., lennsyl- 
vinia- Cal.b Clutbier, Phih.d.lpliia ; James L. Pierce, Northern 



RECil'ITED LABOR CONVENTION. 7 

Liberties ; Abby Kelly, Lynn, Massachusetts ; Sarah T. Harvey, 
Hannah Williams, S. 'H. Luther, and Elizabeth Southard. 

A Committee was also appointed to prepare and publish an Ad- 
dress on the duty of abstaining from the produce of slave labor, 
viz., Lewis C. Gunn, Charles C. Burleigh, M. L. Cox, Jona- 
than P. Magill, Sarah JM. Grimke, Alice Eliza Hamblcton, and 
Abby Kelly. 

On motion, the following Committee was appointed to obtain in- 
formation of the places from whence articles the result of remune- 
rated labor can be obtained, viz., William Bassett, William C. Belts, 
Abraham L. Pennock, John H.Cavender, James Mott, Charles Wise, 
Charles Cadwallader, Lydia White. 

The Convention adjourned to meet in the Saloon of Pennsylvania 
Hall, at 2 o'clock, P. M. 

AFTERNOON SESSION. 

The roll was called and the minutes of the morning session read 
and adjourned. 

The Business Committee made a report which was accepted, 
and being amended was adopted as follows : 

" The Committee appointed to prepare business for the Free Pro- 
duce Convention, respectfully report, 

" That they consider it highly necessary that the minds of the 
various members of the Convention should be deeply and solenmly 
impressed with the great importance of the measure in which we 
are about to engage, and the practical benefits to our cause which 
are likely to ensue from it, and inasmuch as free discussion, which 
is the motto of the day, is calculated to elicit the views and argu- 
ments which may be adduced in its support, the Committee would 
respectfully suggest that one hour be appropriated for this purpose, 
prior to our entering upon any other business. We would also 
propose that the Committee on the Constitution should then make 
their report, and the Convention enter upon its consideration and 
adoption ; after which the Society in its official capacity shall elect 
its officers, by which means it will become fully organized and 
ready to enter upon such duties as may devolve upon it by the 
Constitution. 

Standing Rules of the Convention. 

" \st. All persons, whether favorable or opposed to the objects 
of this Convention, shall have full liberty to discuss any resolution 
involving the principles it professes ; but no one, not a member, 
shall be permitted to vote. 

" 'id. No person shall speak more than twice on any question 
till all others who desire to speak shall have spoken. 



8 



MINUTES OF THE 



" Sd. No person shall offer any resolution, or motion, unless to 
amend, substitute, or adjourn, while a previous one is pendin-T." 

Alanson St. Clair offered the following : 

Fesolveil, That we will in all cases'' give a preference to the 
products of free labor over those of slaves ; and never, if we can 
liave a choice between the two, give countenance to slaveholding, 
by purchasing, trafficking in, or using the latter. 

After an animated discussion, in which Henry Grew, A. St. Clair, 
M. L. Cox, S. H. Luther, N. Southard, Thomas Hambloton, R. Smith, 
and others participated, it was laid on the tabic, and the Convention 
adjourned to meet at 10 o'clock to-morrow mornino-. 



FIFTH MONTH 18th, 1838. 

At a meeting of the Requited Labor Convention, held at the 
ruins of the Pennsylvania Hall, at 10 o'clock, A. M. 

(^n motion, adjourned to James Mott's, North Ninth street, at 
11 o'clock. 

11 o'clock. At a meeting held at James Mott's, pursuant to 
adjournment, 

A letter from Mary S. Wilson was read in the Convention; after 
^vhich the following resolution was adopted : 

Resolved, That a committee of seven, with tho officers, be 
appointed a Committee of Correspondence, with power to call this 
Convention together, at such time and place as they shall deem 
suitable, viz.: '^William Bassett, President, William C. Betts, Alice 
Eliza Hambloton, Secretaries, Abraham L. Pennock, Thomas 
Hambleton, Lewis C. Gunn, Lucretia Mott, Mary Johnson, Sarah 
M. (jrinike, Lindley Coates, and Henry Grew. 

On motion, adjourned to meet at such time and place as shall 
be agreed upon by the aforesaid Committee. 

WILLL\M BASSETT, President. 
William C. Betts, > 

Alice Eliza Hamhleton, \ ^^f^retanes, 



RKQTTITED LABOR CONVKNTION. 



NINTH MONTH 5th, 1838. 

At an adjourned meeting of the Requited Labor Convention, 
asse'mbled in Sandiford Hall, pursuant to the call of the Committee 
of Correspondence, the President being absent, Richard Janney, of 
Bucks county, was called to the Chair. 

The Roll of the Delegates being called, there were present at 
the morning session, 



Alice Eliza Hambletoii, 
Rest Eliza Lambourn, 
Thomas Hambleton, 
Charles Hambleton, 
Eli Hambleton, 
William C. Belts, 
Edward M. Davis, 
Benjamin S. Jones, 
Henry Grew, 

Sarah T. Harvey, 

Daniel L. Miller, jr. 

.\. Foulk, 

M. W. Ma^ill, 

M. B. Linton, 

L. R. Lukens, 

L. C. Gunn, 

.Trvnathaii Lambourn, 

Mira Orum, 
Mary Shaw, 
Martha Smith, 
Mary Beans, 
Mary Johnson, 
Tacy Parry, 
John Sellers, jr, 
Sidney Ann Lewis, 
John H. Cavender, 
Esther S. Justice, 
Sarah G. Wayne, 
Lucretia Mott, 



jr. 



Lydia White, 
Isaac Coates, 
John Atkinson, jr. 
Mary Sleeper, 
John Hambleton, 
Joseph L. Pierce, 
Edwin Griffin, 
George M. Alsop, 
Francis Mitchell, 
Josiah Bond, 
Jonathan P. Magill, 
William H. Johnson, 
C. C. Burleigh, 
Joseph Sharpless, 
A. L. Pennock, 
K. H. Coates, 
Sarah Dorsey, 
-T. Parrish, jr. 
J. M. JacKson, 
Nathan Thorne, 

C. Clothier, 

D. Marott, 
James Mot% 
Susan Taylor, 
Samuel Naylor, 
Martha Hampton, 
Esther Ann Fussell, 
J. Clark. 



Oi motion of Benjamin S. Jones, all persons in attendance, who 
are tirorable to the objects of this Convention, are invited to take 
part u Its deliberations. 

-Theninutes of the last meeting were read and adopted. 

Lettt^ were read from Gerrit Smith, William Bassett, and the 
LoleraiiAnti-Slavery Society in this state. 

L- C.'unn, on behalf of the Committee on the Constitution, 
reported i^raft of a Preamble and Constitution, which, on motion, 
was accepd, and with some amendments adopted, and is as 



JO MINUTES OF THE 

PREAMBLE. 

Assured of the correctness of the principle, that the receiver of 
property, known to be unrighteously obtained, is a criminal 
participator in an evil deed; assured that the products of slave 
labor are thus obtained, and that the purchasing and using ol^ these 
products, on the part of the consumer, is the g'-f ^1/^!"^"'"^J^^ 
maintain the abominable system of oppression, without which there 
would exist no adequate inducement to continue it : theretore, lor 
the sake of outraged humanity, and for the purpose of bearing a 
consistent, holy, practical testimony against a great national sm, 
we agree to associate under the following 

CONSTITUTION. 
Art. I.— This Association shall be called the American Free 

Produce Association. , ,, , . ^f„ 

Ar.,. II —The object of this Association shall be to promote 
total abstinence from the products of slave labor, and devise means 
by which the community may be supplied with articles produced 
bv the labor of freemen. . 

Art III— All persons who approve of the objects of this 
Association, and contribute annually to its funds, may have their 
names enrolled as members. • , . r 

"^A^;'lV._The officers of this Society shall be a President, four 
Vice Presidents, a Recording Secretary, a Corresponding Secretary, 

^ V-r;ffic^rr !^r^.:irr^xr";smu:r ^th: 

Sc" -L TlSy sSfl be annually elected by the members of 

'\l^'T~The Executive Committee shall represent the Society 

dunn-'its recess, shall have the control of the funds "ot otherwise 

app cJ)riated, and shall take such measures as they consider prope 

ff he promotion of the objects of this Association. Ihey sha 

r^ale i report to the annual mec-ting of this Society ot th.i 

Xeedinc^s and of the amount of money received and expen.ed 

by them." They shall have power to call special meetings of^he 

Society, to enact their own by-laws, and fill any vacancies that ay 

o^r In their own body. Five of them shall constitute^ a q^.n. 

Art. VI.— There shall be annual meetings ot this Societ neia 

on the third Third-day in the Tenth m<.nth, at sueh place a may 

be fixed by the Society at its previous annual meeting. 

Art. Vll.-Any association founde.1 on the same F'nci-^ ,a d 
contributin.^ annually to the i'n^d^, may become aux.mi-o^h^^ 
Society. The officers of each auxiliary society shall be ^ oltic o 
members of the Parent institution and, with the *Wegate si •! lu 
entitled to d.lih.ra,e and vote m the transaction of it^c^ 
Art. Vlll.— Tliis Constitution may be amended at >> 



REQUITED LABOR CONVEiSTlON. 11 

meeting of the Society, by a vote of a majority of members present, 
provided the amendments proposed have been previously submitted 
in writing to the Executive Committee, and published three months 
previous to the annual meeting. 

Adjourned until three o'clock, this afternoon. 

AFTERNOON SESSION. 

Richard Janney being absent, William H. Johnson was called 
to the Chair. 

The minutes of the morning session were read and adopted. 

On motion, that part of the report of the Business Committee 
that relates to the election of officers was laid on the table. 

Lewis C. Gunn, on behalf of the committee appointed at a 
previous meeting, to prepare and publish an address on the 
duty of abstaining from the produce of slave labor reported an 
address, which, after some discussion, was referred back to the 
Committee, and the names of Lucretia Mott, Benjamin S. Jones, 
William C. Betts, A- L. Pennock, Richard Janney, Thomas Ham- 
bleton, and William H. Johnson, were added to the Committee. 

On motion. 

Resolved, That a Committee of seven be appointed to take into 
consideration the propriety of establishing stores for the sale, ex- 
clusively, of goods produced by requited labor, and report to a 
future sitting of this Convention a plan by which such stores can 
be supported. Thomas Hambleton, William C. Betts, A. L. Pen- 
nock, Henry Grew, Alice Eliza Hambleton, Lucretia Mott, Martha 
Hampton, and Daniel L. Miller, jr.. Committee. 

Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to prepare a memorial 
to Congress, asking for a repeal of duties on all goods which come 
in competition with slave labor produce, at least so far as to place 
them on an equal footing. A. L. Pennock, B. S. Jones, and 
C. C. Burleigh, were appointed the Committee. 

Resolved, That Joseph Parrish, jr., be appointed to procure a 
book, and have the Preamble and Constitution transcribed in it, 
and produce it at the morning sitting for signatures. 

Adjourned until ten o'clock to-morrow morning. 



NINTH MONTH 6th, 1838. 

Samuel Ross was called to the Chair. 

The minutes of last session were read and adopted. 

On motion, the resolution respecting the memorial to Congress 
on the subject of duties, was reconsidered, and a substitute offered, 
which was negatived. 



12 MINUTES OF THE 

The following resolution was read and adopted: 
Resolved, That the Executive Committee be instructed to cor- 
respond with James Cropper, and other prominent abolitionists of 
Great Britain, on the subject of inducing some of the manufacturers 
of that country to use none but fi*ee labor cotton in their estab- 
lishments. 

The Committee on Stores offered the following report, which 
was referred to the Executive Committee for its consideration: 

'■^To the Requited Labor Association: 

'• The Committe appointed to take into consideration the propriety 
of establishing stores, &c., report, 

" That in their judgment it is important that the market be regu- 
larly furnished with goods produced by freemen, and that a store 
be established for that purpose under the direction of the Executive 
Committee, in which the friends of the cause may feel an equal 
interest, and that a fund be created for that purpose. 

" They would suggest in the following manner : That a volun- 
tary subscription be opened, to be continued annually at the option 
of the subscriber, and the Executive Committee have power to 
employ an agent at a salary, if it shall be found necessary, and the 
funds warrant it; but they shall have no power to contract debts 
beyond what the funds will discharge, or in any wise subjecting 
the Association to loss or embarrassment. 
"On behalf of the Commmittce. 

Thomas Hambleton, 
William C. Betts, 
H. Grew, 

Alice Eliza Hambleton, 
lucretia mott, 
Martha Hampton." 
The following resolution was then offered, and after a long and 
interesting discussion adopted: 

Resolved, That as slaves arc robbed of the friiits of their toil, all 
who partake of those fruits are participants in the robbery, and as 
all markets are supplied with such articles as consumers require, 
we earnestly recommend to all abolitionists to encourage the fur- 
nishing of the market with free goods, by purchasing and using 
such only as are of this class. 

Resolved, That a Committee of one member be appointed to re- 
ceive subscriptions from members of the Convention, to defray the 
expenses thereof, and alter j)aying the necessary charges, hand 
over the balance to the Treasurtsr, to be aj)i)ointed by the Asso- 
ciation. 

Tlie Chair appnintcil Alice Eliza Hambleton aaid Committee. 
Adjourned to four o'clock this aflcrucxui. 



REQUITED LABOR CONVENTION. 



AFTERNOON SESSION. 



13 



Pursuant to adjournment, the Convention assembled. 
The Committee on the places from whence free goods can be 
obtained, reported attention to the subject committed to them, but 
had not yet completed their work. They were directed to report 
to the Executive Committee. 

A letter from William Goodell, of Utica, New York, was then 
read. 

Thomas Foulke, Lucretia Mott, Martha Smith, A. L. Pennock, 
and Caleb Clothier, were appointed a Committee to nominate officers 
for the Association, who reported as follows : 

President. 
GERRIT SMITH, of Peterboro, New York. 

Vice Presidents. 
William Bassett, of Lynn, Massachusetts. 
Abraham L. Pennock, of Philadelphia. 
William H. Johnson, of Bucks county, Pennsylvania. 
Lewis Tappan, of New York. 

Recording Secretary. 
Daniel L. Miller, jr. 

Corresponding Secretary. 
Lewis C. Gunn. 

Treasurer. 
Lucretia Mott. 
Executive Committee. 
Charles C. Burleigh, Abby Kelly, 

Alice Eliza Hambleton, Caleb Clothier, 

Henry Grew, David Ellis, 

William C. Betts, Sidney Ann Lewis, 

Lydia White, Martha Hampton, 

John H. Cavender, Sarah Pugh. 

The Report was adopted, and they were accordingly appointed 
the officers. 

The Committee on the Address were directed to finish their re- 
port and submit it to the Executive Committee. 

Resolved, That the first stated meeting of this Association be 
held on the third Third-day in the Tenth month, 1839, in Phila- 
delphia. 

Daniel L. Miller, jr., Lewis C. Gunn, Alice Eliza Hambleton, 
Sarah T. Harvey, John Hambleton, Eli Hambleton, and Jonathan P. 
Magill, were appointed to call on absent members for their contri- 
butions. 



14 LETTEUS TO 

On motion, 

Resolved, That the procfM^dinfis of this mooting, togetlior with 
the letters addressed to the Convention, he published in as many of 
the papers as the Executive Committee shall deem suitable. 

Adjourned. 

William C. Betts, > ^ ^ • 

X XT' Ti } ijccretartes. 

Alice bLizA Hambleton, ^ 



CoLERAiN, (Lancaster County,) Eighth month 30ih, 1838. 
To the Kcquited Labor Convenlion : 

Dear Friends, — As existingr circumstances prevent a delegation from 
our .Society being with you, we take this method of inform'ng you that we 
feel deeply interested in the subject for which you are convened ; and be 
assured that, although not with you in person, we are with you in heart 
in this matter. 

We have considered the subject, and would give a decided preference 
to productions obtained from remunerated labor over those produced by 
the toil-worn and suffering slave, and we hope that a channel may ere 
long be opened, whereby free produce can be obtained with less inconve- 
nience than at present. 

Consistency requires that we should abstain at least as far as practica- 
ble from using slave products, for it is manifest that by their free and in- 
discriminate use we give encouragement and support to the iniquitous 
institution that we wish to destroy, are participants in the crime of "using 
our neighbor's service without wages,'' and thus implicate ourselves 
deeply in the slaveholder's guilt. 

May Divine Wisdom govern your deliberations, and may your efforts 
be productive of such happy results as will aid to break the bonds of 
wickedness, " undo the heavy burdens and let the oppressed go free;" 
that you may merit the rich reward of approving consciences, and the 
blessinjrs^ of millions who are ready to perish. 

On behalf of the Colerain Anti-Slavery Society, 

William L. Kakgstraw, 
William Brosius, 
Isabella Sweenv. 



LvN.x, Ninth month 1st, 1838. 
Esteemed Friends, — I had fully intended to be with you at the ensuing 
meeting of the Requited Labor Convention, and regret exreedingly that 
it is iiiipracticable for me to do so. Having just returned from a visit to 
Ibe country of several weeks, with some of my family, for the benefit of 
iheir health, and my absence having been inevitably prolonged beyond 
my expectations, 1 find various engagements demanding my attention, 
of such a nature that, (deeply as I feel interested in the objects of our 
Convention,) I do not feel at liberty todisrcjiard them, and therefore feel 
myself debarred from joininjr my friends on this very important occasion. 
I would thai the importance of this movement were more fully appre- 
ciated, and that every friend of emancipation would avail himself of the 
additional influence which a faithful and consistent testimony against 
oppression would give him. 1 have been surprised at the little hold 



THE CONVENTION. 



15 



which this subject has taken on the minds of abolitionists ; especially at 
the almost total indifforence respecting it, manifest among the friends of 
the cause in New England. 

May the deliberations of this (-onvention be of such a character that 
they may be the means of sending forth truth in relation to our duty in 
this particular, and of fastening conviction on the minds of all those who 
have the cause of the suffering bondman at heart, that so they may la- 
bor with more efficiency for his deliverance. 

Holding the station which the Convention was pleased to confer upon 
me, I feef that an apology is due for my non-attendance, which you will 
please communicate. 1 would, further, express my grateful sense of the 
respect thus manifested ; and of the forbearance and indulgence exhibited 
towards me in the imperfect discharge of the duties devolving on me. 

Earnestly desiring that your deliberations may be blessed by the Al- 
mighty to the furtherance of His cause, 

I remain your friend and fellow-laborer, 

William Bassett. 



To IJ'illiam C. Bdts and 
Jllice Eliza Hambleton. 



V Secretaries of the Requited Labor Convention. 



Peterboro, August 19, 1838. 
My Dear Friend, — I feel much obliged to you for your letter, inviting 
me to attend the Free Produce Convention. I have delayed answering 
it, not only because my whole time has been claimed by a variety of 
interests, but because I have not been quite certain that I should not be 
able to attend the Convention, the importance of which can. 1 think, 
be hardly overrated. But it seems very improbable, now, that 1 shall be 
able to attend the Convention. My excellent friend, Abraham Pennock, 
will take these few lines. I have had considerable conversation with 
him on the subject of abstinence from the productions of slave-labor. I 
am glad to find him so greatly interested in it. 

In great haste, your friend and brother, 
Gerrit Smith. 
Lewis C. Gunn. 

Farmington, Fourth month 26th, 1838. 

Dear Friends, — Being appointed by the Annual Meeting of our Female 
Anti-Slavery Society, a delegate to the Convention to be held in Phila- 
delphia, on the 5th of the ensuing month, it is with regret that I am 
compelled to inform you that it is out of my power to answer my appoint- 
ment, in person ; but I desire to encourage you to hold on your way and 
be not weary in well doing, remembering it is they who hold out to the 
end for whom the blessing is reserved. Having long been strong in the 
belief that very much may be done by abstaining from the use of slave- 
labor, 1 rejoice in the hope that you will be able to form a society that 
will operate strongly, particularly on the minds of those abolitionists who 
so often tell us that it is impossible to do without the use of slave-labor. 
I hope your proceedings will be widely circulated, and plans be made 
plain for obtaining, at least with a little effort, things that are necessary, 
free from slave-labor. 

In haste I subscribe myself your friend and companion in the cause of 

humanity, 

Mary S, Wilson. 



16 



LETTERS TO 



,, - . „ „ Utica, August 29, 1838. 

Mr. Lewis C. Gunn: ° ' 

Dear &>,— It would give me pleasure to attend your Free Labor Con. 
vention of the 5lh of September, but it will not be in my power to do so; 
nor have I time to do justice to the subject in any communication of my 
views in respect to that measure. 

In the early part of our anti-slavery movement, I was among those who 
anticipated some action on this subject by the societies then oro-anized. 
The topic was introduced in the Convention in your city fur formin<T the 
American Ann-Slavery Society, in December, 1833, when it appeared"that 
not a few of our friends were apprehensive that its incorpoialinn into our 
enterprise would cripple our elForts, and shut us out of the manufacturino- 
districts of the North. A resolution, however, was adopted, recommend- 
ing the subject to the attention of the Executive Committee. But it soon 
appeared that neither the members of that body, nor the constituency 
represented by them, were prepared to make any decisive advances in 
relation to it. The subject was not understood. It had not been dis- 
cussed. Its discussion in the anti-slavery publications seemed, there- 
fore, the first measure to be attempted. I'.ut even here, it soon api)eared 
that some of the advocates of free discussion had found one topic, and 
one, too, which related to the subject of slavery and emancipation, which 
must await " the prevailing voice of the brotherhood," before it could be 
"prudently ' assigned its place among the matters to be investigated 
Among the inconveniences incident to associated and afTiliated action for 
one distinct object, it has been found a very serious one that the object itself, 
in all Its connexions, ramifications, and bearings, cannot be fully dis- 
cussed without exciting a feeling of repulsion in some minds, to whom 
the wide range of discussion appears to be a wandering from the specific 
object of association, if not an impertinent attempt to press the or<raniza- 
tion into a service for which it was never intended. A society for^eman- 
cipating the enslaved colored man, for example, would be sadly perverted 
in the view of mniiy, if the oHicial publications sustained by it, should 
take any notice of the virtual enslavement of white freemen, by persons 
who did not pretend to be slaveholders/ The intimation, in an ami"- 
slavery periodical, that kitchen domestics and cotton factory operatives 
are not properly treated when they are degraded to the condition of an 
inferior caste, has been known to give serious offence to some who are 
sufTiciently zealous for Southern emancipation. And it would not be 
strange If the nriatter of Northern participancy in the gains of oppression, 
should be equally "ff (/(//cr/^f yuei//o/z." 

I know not how we shall escape these embarrassments, until Christian 
CHCHCiiKS shall become (what Jesus Christ intended them to be) stand- 
ing societies for inquiring after every good way, and seeking for the 
paths oi universal truth and dut;,. In the meantime, the Convention you 
propose, opens the door of inquiry in respect to the duty of abstinence 
from the products of slave labor. Rut. should a society be oraanized for 
the express purpose of promoting that distinct object, I should'^be curious 
to know vvhelher its periodicals and official publications would be open 
to the kindred discussion of the propriety of abstinence from the products 
o{ other forms of oppression besides that of our American slaveholdinj^ 
1 erhaps that would be thought wandering from the subject; but, for my 
part, I never felt a stronsrer repugnance to the use of slave prodacts, than 
I once did, when, on the Island of Java, 1 perceived that almost the entfre 
crops of indigc, rice, sugar, and coffee, were wrung from the hands of the 



THE CONVENTION. 17 

poor Javanese, in the shape of a colonial government tax, by the Dutch 
authorities, in whose warnhoiises more than seven-eighths of the entire 
coffee crop were deposited for sale! Yet the Javanese were not held as 
"chattels personal," They were only oppressed after the manner of 
Pharaoh's dealings with the Hebrews. Our Americun oppression, I ad- 
mit, is almost infinitely beyond it, in the comparison. 

Abstinence from the products of slave-labor may be presented in either 
of the three forms of— 1st. A scntiinent, addressed to our finer feelings, 
and nearly allied to poetry; (all poetry is against oppression.) 2d. A 
moral principle, enforcing obligation, and uttering prohibition. Or, 3d. 
An expedient — a means for the removal of the oppression. 

1. As a sentiment appealing to the sensibilities of our nature, the idea 
of abstinence from the products of s!ave-!abor appears to have taken strong 
hold of the British public, at one period of the efforts for abolishing the 
foreign slave-trade. The abolition of slavery itself would certainly^pre- 
sent a more appropriate occasion for its exercise. J shall never forget a 
stanza in the old " American Preceptor," of Caleb Bingham, one of the 
New England school books: 

" Yes ! their keen sorrows are the sweets we blend 

With the green beverage of the niorning meal; 
Meanwhile, to love meek mei'cy we pretend, 

And for fictitious ills affect to feel !" 

2. As a moral principle, the rule of classing the products of slave-labor 
with stolen goods, seems almost too plain for an argument. And the rule 
of including the partaker in the guilt of the thief, has been incorporated 
into the volumes of both the common and the statute law ! How shall 
we escape from the conclusion ] I see no way, unless it be by pleadino- 
the impracticability of complying with the principle : " For then must ye 
needs go out of the world.'" 1 confess, I have not found it practicable to 
abstain wholly from the use of i\\e gains of oppression. I know not whe- 
ther I am using them or not while I am writing on this sheet of paper.* 
But it is probable that 1 am. And yet I do not know that unavoidable 
exceptions should be exalted into weapons for destroying moral rules. 
David ate the shew bread, and the priests in the temple pro'faned the Sab- 
bath and were blameless ; yet the laws remained unrepealed. We do 
not despise the thief, if he steal but to satisfy the cravings of hunger and 
to save his life. Yet we do not think of blotting the eighth command- 
ment from our Bibles, or of erasing the law against larceny from our 
statute books. 

3. As an expedient for the removal of slavery, it remains to be seen 
whether abstinence from the products of slave-labor does not possess 
powers of vast energy, which are yet to be exercised. West India 
Emancipation, I suppose, received very little direct acceleration from it. 
The wor«/ effect, among British abolitionists, may have been greater than 
it is commonly estimated to have been. 

I have been thinking for some time, that, if other expedients should 
fail us, we have one in reserve that might enable us to settle the question 
without debute and without blood. If the North were abolitionized,— "oh, 
what an ;/ is there !"— the Northern free slates, with the help of Old 
England, might settle the whole question in a twelvemonth. Simple 
abstinence from the use of slave cotton alone, might do it. England 

♦ Is there not a distinction between the use of paper made from rags which are 
the offal of cotton goods, and the use of tiiese goods themselves ^—Ex Com 

3 



18 LKTTERS TO 

could do her part by one item of her tariff, and one-half the " agitation " 
of the past year would be suffii^ienl to effect it. In our own country, it 
would have to be done by individual and associated abstinence. We 
could do nothing by way of interdict, unless the wise soothe-sayers and 
slate doctors of the South should please to "dissolve the Union" by way 
of facilitatinff and suggesting the measure. 

I shall look with interest for the proceedings of your Convention. 
Should you take measures, as I trust, you will do, for ptocuring supplies 
"f free labor goods, for all parts of the conntry, you will have done much 
towards removing objections and cavils against the practice of ab- 
staining from slave products. More than this, if the goods can be 
furnished, there are thousands who would begin, for the first time, to ex- 
amine the subject, and not only examine, but ad, by giving the preference, 
to say the least, for free goods. There are already not a few in this 
state, and particularly in some portions of it, who would be willing (if 
convinced of its necessity) to pay a difference in price, to a reasonable 
extent, if free-labor goods can be procured. 

I cannot but anticipate good results from your Convention, and 1 pray 
you may be guided in all things, by that wisdom which cometh from 
above, and is profitable to direct. 

I remain, dear sir, 

Your fellow-laborer for the oppressed, 

William Goodell. 



Northampton, September 1, 1838. 

Dear Sir, — I have to acknowledge your favor of the 16ih ult., and to 
thank the Committee of Arrangements of the approaching Free Labor 
Convention, for the seasonable and friendly notice and invitation, which 
it conveyed. 

1 should be very glad to be one of that body which shall first make a 
public stand, in this country, against the use and traffic of the produce of 
*' stolen labor." We call it stolen, and it is a part of our faith to de- 
nounce the thieves, but we do not consider who are the receivers. This is 
a delicate question. Slaveholders and traders are not the only people, 
who have delicate questions ; I trust, however, that we may discuss such 
questions on the Pennsylvania side of Mason and Dixson's line, without 
being flayed alive, burned alive, or in any other manner lynched. A de- 
licate question! any practice, which is pre-eminently and cunsciousty foul, 
selfish, corru|)t, corrupting and pervading, and which the more it requires 
stirring, the more you must refrain from touching. 

Some years ago, I made a voyage with a man who had been engaged 
in the slave-trade. He acknowledged that, during a chase by a British 
cruiser, he had seen hundreds " walk a plank." Those who recollect 
some sixteen years, when the West India Archipelago was infested with 
wretches employed in another branch of piracy, know too well that this 
mode of ridding themselves of their captives, the witnesses of tlieir crimes, 
was a favorite one. I was struck with the family feature, and occupied 
myself in tracing other resemblances of these kindred trades. 

Slave traders are placed, by the laws of this country, on a level with 
pirates. In reality, they are the worst of pirates, except those who em- 
ploy them. Other pirates commit murder to take a purse, which is 
insensible to wrong, " and has been slave to thousands;" but the slave- 
trader and his factors, massacre and burn one-half of a happy and inoffen- 
»ive communiiy, in order that they may take the oilier; and thus possess 



THE CONVENTION, 19 

themselves of fifty or a Imndred pair of strong and mind-moved hands, 
the essential source of all property, each of which is of more value than 
a purse, because each can earn, lay up, and appropriate lo necessity, 
mility, and charily, a thousand purses. Of all these a man is robbed 
when he is robbed of liberty, not to speak of pain unspeakable, antruish 
inconceivable, degradation bestial, and the ensuing catalogue of cnmes 
against " the life of the soul." 

'•Men-buyers," says John Wesley, " are exactly on a level with men- 
siealers." 

" Men-stealers," said the general assembly of the Presbyterian Church, 
forl.y-two years ago, "are those who take and carry off freemen or slaves, 
and keep, sell, or buy them." 

" The law," eays the Apostle, " is made for the ungodly and for sin- 
ners, for murderers of fathers, and murderers of mothers, and for men- 
stealers. 

During the prevalence of West India piracy, it was ascertained and 
we I known, that mercantile houses in the island of Cuba, (and some in 
Baltimore and New York were strongly suspected,) were in regular cor- 
respondence with the pirates, receiving consignments for their^plunder, 
dividing the profits, and sometimes making advances and filling the ves- 
sels for sea. The public indignation against those merchant's was far 
greater than against their miserable instruments, who perished on the aal- 
lows. Those merchants were accessories before the fact and after'the 
fact, and in the eye of the law were murderers and robbers on the hiah 
seas. If us arm could have reached them, they would have suffered 
with their associates. 

But how did their case differ in a moral point of view from that of per- 
sons who receive the fruits of man-stealing? Men-stealers are pirates, 
and those who receive consignments of their plunder, who buy, sell, use 
and consume it, are accessories after the fact, and in most cases before 
the fact. They reward them for crimen; already committed, and they fur- 
nish them means and motives for committing more. T should be pleased 
and grateful if any one will point out a sound and iniellio-jble distinction 
between the two cases. It will relieve my mind from difficulty, and my 
senses from restraints, which I am unable to remove. 

Does any man, woman or child doubt that slavery would die, if we 
ceased to live upon that for which alone men are enslaved] If there were 
no consumers of slave produce, there would be no market, and if there 
were no market for slave produce, there would be no buyers of slaves, no 
inter-state or African slave-traders, no slave-breeders, and speedily no 
Keepers of slaves. Slavery would die of inanition. It is the working- 
men and women of the free states, (whom slaveholders put upon a level 
w'lth their slaves, and certainly 1 had rather be put upon a level with 
their slaves than with themselves,) it is the free children of these men 
and women, that supply the aliment of the execrable business. Let 
slave-raised cigars, nce-puddings, calicoes, cakes and sugar-plums be re- 
garded as "forbidden fruit," which will keep death in the world, as 
surely as disobedience brought it here, and slavery will expire as quick 
as an animal m an exhausted receiver. This would be the most philoso- 
phical of experiments. It is an obvious and well tried mode of action, 
and has the singular advantage of being approved by those who think 
hanging is none too good for any thing else we do 

For many years, about the time of the last war with Great Britain, the 
bouthern politicians insisted upon the duty and necessity of abstaining 
Irom the use and commerce of British manufar'tures. and many of thenf 



20 LETTERS TO 

among whom were JelTerson, Madison, and Monroe, set the example. 
More recently, we have heard of the venerable forms of " the patriarchs," 
clad in linsey woolsey iiullificati'm raiment; and our freshest tidings 
frmn them is, tliat they are preparin«- to lay an embargo on our trade, as 
they have already done upon the. liberty of S|)eech and the right of peti- 
tioning. 

Our revolutionary mothers renounced the use of that tea, which came 
to them burdened with a trifling duty, not saturated with priceless blond, 
and liberticide! If they could refuse themselves their favorite beverage 
for a cause comparatively so trivial, what would not the same spirit have 
done in the far nobler f-nterpnse, which it is our jirivilege to pursuel 

A few years ago, our dear friend, Benjamin Lundy, published in his 
valuable periodical, the picture of a human finger, which was found in a 
cup of cofl'ee. I presume that that cup was not drained; and yet that 
man or woman, who does not see that it did not differ from the cups 
which we take morning and evening, must have a very mechatiical mind. 
Since that time a cartwhip was found in a hogshead of molasses. If as 
many such vouchers could accompany every box, barrel, hogshead, and 
bag, as were employed in lacerating the stolen laborers, who produced 
them, our merchandise would bristle with those horrid instruments; and 
if we were as blind of eyes as we are of mind, we should find them stick- 
ing in our throats! Happy were it if any thing would stick there. If a 
thousandth part of the ugly black skin, the fiesh and blood, which is 
whipped and beaten from the backs and heads of the only industrious and 
productive citizens which the South can boast, were mingled with the 
luxuries we receive, many tender nerves might be convulsed, where no 
tender conscience is now touched. We should then have delicate morsels, 
as well as " delicate questions." 

In 1831, the Secretary of the Treasury, a citizen of a free state, and a 
famous republican, made a report to the House of Representatives, em- 
bracing the statements of a great number of sugar planters of Louisiana, 
and other states, concerning the expenses and profits of their business. 
There was a statement by the central comn)ittee of the sugar planters of 
Louisiana, one by a committee of the parish [county] of Plaquemine, 
containing an immense table of the expenditures and products of twenty 
plantations in that parish; one from the Agricultural Society of Baton 
Rouge, and several from individuals, including the Honorable J. S. John- 
ston, then a Senator from Louisiana in the Congress of the United States. 
All these, with the exception of the Baton Rouge Society, set down the 
annual loss of slave properly, on the sugar plantations, ^Ijice per cent. 
That Society says, "two and a half" per cent.; but this answer in form, 
relates to " slave property" in general, and is not confined to the sugar 
estates. On the other hand, I have been informed, that some sugar plan- 
ters have admitted that they " use up" .siven percent, of their hands every 
year. The loss to which I refer, is placed in the Secretary's report, and 
in the communications from Louisiana, under the hends of" risk," "de- 
creased value," "death," and " deierioration." The chasms ihns made 
are to be filled up with new cargoes and cofiles from Maryland, Virginia, 
North and South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, &,c. 

In order to appreciate and apply these admissions of tlie adversary, it 
is necessary to consider that the annual increase of the population of the 
United States, is about four ptr cent. — in other words, the vacancies 
caused by death are sujiplied, and four percent, net gain is added; there- 
fore, on the sugar plantations of the South, a positive loss of " five per 
cent." must be added to the negative loss of lour, making an outrighj 



THE CONVKNTIOX. 



21 



waste of human life, or downright massacre, of »«/)c sl.ives to every liundred 
everv year! '!'he amount on the sugar plantations of Lonisiar.a, to pass 
ove-'those of Florida, Aricansas, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, is 

THREE THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTV PER ANNUM. These are jUSt 33 

much murdered as if they were shot m masse, and indeed more inhuman- 
ly, inasmuch as death by torture is most terrible. In this single branch 
of slave employment, there is a greater destruction of human life every 
year, than there was in the whole French revolution, bloody as that has 
ever been deemed. , r j u 

These facts, illustrated by elaborate calculations, and enforced by earn- 
est appeals to the slave-breeding states, in favor of preserving the tariff 
protection on sua-ar, and the high price and great market of slaves, were 
not only embodied by a head of department, and coolly communicated to 
Contrres*, and ordered to be printed, but were passed without a syllable 
of comment from any Northern member in either branch ! After the 
fatuity of printing such a document, I care not if a petition against slavery 
is never printed. If there is not enough in this single pamphlet to 
point the finger of scorn from every quarter of the habitable earth, there ia 
no hope of humanity, and the maxim of Satan, 
" Evil, be thou my good" 

has prevailed ! , , . j j- 

This regular and permanent system of murder would demand, according 
to the cyphering of Senator Johnston, one hundred thousand new vic- 
tims, between 1830 and 1855, for Louisiana alone, and thus, he inferred, 
the high value of slaves would he kept up, not in the market only, but 
by consequence on every slave property within this republic. 

Will it be believed that such an argument was concocted in the nine- 
teenth century of the Christian era"? Tt must be, unless some gentle 
Goths and Vandals should charitably efface the infamous record. 

And the death work still goes on year in and year out. At the rate of 
nine human vi'^tims per day, do American Christians and noisy repul)li- 
cans in the state of Louisiana alone, sacrifice to the god of gain. The 
holocausts of heathen Carthage did not equal this. These were abolished 
by the interference of an enlightened foreign nation, but we, though par- 
ties, compelled by an impious compact, and by the unfaithfulness of our 
agents, to he accessory to these horrors, may not even remonstrate, nor, 
without incurring bitter hatred and frequent peril, bear a testimony 
against the enormity. The Carthaginians come with flaming brands and 
bowie knives to our doors, and irrupt into our churches and public walks. 
And for this, for all this, we consent, not only nationally but individually, 
voluntarily, daily, yea, many times in a day, to give our money ! God 
of mercy, is this our country] Are we the children of Fenn and the 
Pilgrims; or are we in some dark corner of heathendom, with rapacious 
and pitiless Arabs and Algerines ; cut-throat Khoords and Thugs, Jugger- 
nauts, burners of widows, feeders of crocodiles with living virgins, re- 
gular child-killers and murderers of decrepid fathers and mothers'? 

There are abolitionists who drink of this blood. It is too late to do 
so with impunity to their own spirits or to their cause. I feel a strong 
persuasion that that cause cannot continue to prosper, if its advocates do 
not purify themselves from this pollution, and cease to be partakers of 
men-stealers' sin. Can they be so unapprehensive as to suppose, that be- 
cause it does not come to their lips red and foaming from the veins and ar _ 
teries of the panting victims, or because their own hands do not cut and 
torture them, they are therefore free from guilt and responsibility 1 " Do 



•^'■^ ADDRESS TO AnOLITlONI.^JTS. 

you buy our pro.iucer' asked a slaveholder of an abolitionist, " Yes, I 
buy It. because I can <ret no other." "Then you pay for keeping up the 
system. \ ou may write and talk at us as much as you please, provided 
you give us your custom." 

W hen David's valiant men broke ihrnugh the ranks of the Philistines, 
and brougrht their chief water from the well of Bethlehem, his generous and 
ieeling heart would not allow him to taste it, ihoush his lips were parched 
with feverish thirst. « God forbid," said he, - that I should do this thing. 
Miall J drink the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy l 
t*or with the jeopardy of their lives they brouaht it." If a Hebrew, three 
thousand years ajro, aave this divine example of self-denial, for a scruple 
which in comparison was nothing, what ourrht a Christian to do in regard 
to the gigantic and tremendous blood-guilt of the slaveholdin^ SoTith, 
and of furnishing means to continue, increase, and perpetuate it''^ It is 
absurd and bedlamitish to say we must eat blood-mixed messes, and 
clothe ourselves in blood-stained garments, because we can't o-et any 
othej, or " can't get them so cheap," and " want to aive all we can save 
to the anti-slavery cause." Go seek the silver which Judas threw away, 
and give that to the cause. If you cannot obtain innocent cotton and 
sugar go without. All Europe did without these commodities until the 
last three centuries. Will you for these paltry objects trade with pirates, 
purchase their plunder, and pay their outfits for capturing and killinamore^ 
\t you can do so, you ought, with John C. Calhoun, -deeply to regret 
that that unfortunate name was ever applied" to the loholesiUe dealerl in 
your brother's blood. 

Affectionate regard and hearty good wishes, 

Your friend and fellow-servant, 

, . ,, ^ D. LtE Child. 

Lewis L. Gunn. 



ADDRESS TO ABOLITIONISTS. 

Wc are not about to tell you of the existence of slavery in our 
" land of the free," or to inform you that nearly three millions of 
your countrymen are the victims of systemaiic'and leiralizcd rob- 
bery and oppression. This you know full well, and^ the know- 
ledge has awakened your strong sympathy with the sufferers, and 
your soul-deep abhorrence of the system which crushe.« them. We 
mean not to prove that this system is condemned by every princi- 
ple of justice, every precept of the Divine law, and every"j>ttribute 
ol the Divine cliaiacter,— or that no man can innocently sustain to 
his fellow man the relation it has established. You already be- 
lieve this proposition, and build upon it, as a fundamental doctrine, 
the whole superstructure of your anti-slavery creed and plan of 
operations. It is not our i)urpose to convince you that the slave 
as your brother man, has a right to your compassion and assistance! 
\ ou acknowledge his claim, and profess to be his fast and faithful 
friends. IJut we would jiropose to you a question of weitrht and 
serious import. Having settled your principles, in the clear light 
oflrulli, by fair and thorough inyestigalion, do you practically 
carry them out in your daily life and conduct ? To one point we 
would direct your allcmion. Do you, into whos.- hands this ad- 



ADDRESS TO ABOLITIONISTS. 23 

dress has fallen, faithfully abstain from using the products of the 
slave's extorted and unpaid labor? If not, having read thus far, 
do not immediately throw aside this address with an exclamation 
of contempt or indifference, but read it through with candor. 

Before entering upon a discussion of the question, whether our 
use of the products of slave-labor does not involve us in the guilt 
of slavehokling, we ask your attention to the two following propo- 
sitions, viz.: The love of money is the root of the evil of slavery — 
and the products of slave- lab or are stolen goods. 

I. The love of money is the root of the evil of slavery. 
We say that the whole system, with all its incidents, is to be traced 
, to a mean and heartless avarice. Not that we suppose every indi- 
i vidual slaveholder is actuated by a thirst for gold ; but that slave- 
holders so generally hold slaves in order to make money by their 
labor, that, if this motive were withdrawn, the system would be 
abolished. If nothing were gained, it would not be long before the 
commercial staples would cease to be produced by slave-labor, and 
this would break the back-bone of the system. 

A comparison of the history of the cotton trade with that of 
.slavery would show that every improvement in the cultivation and 
i manufacture of cotton has infused new vigor into the system of 
slavery ; that the inventions of Cartwright, Whitney, and others, 
have diminished the proportional number of emancipations in the 
United States, enhanced the value of slaves, and given a degree of 
stability to the robbery-system which it did not before possess. 
Indeed, every fluctuation in the price of cotton is accompanied by 
a corresponding change in the value of slaves. We copy the fol- 
lowing statistics from the New York Herald, of November 23, 
1837 ; they are extracted from a long " chronological table of the 
cotton trade.'''' 

1836 Cotton farms in Mississippi, fronting on the i-iver, sell for «100 per acre, 
readily. Negro men, of prime quality, fetch from Kl, 500 to « '2,000. Uapid settle- 
ment of new cotton lands. Great speculations. Heavy importations of foreign cotton 
goods. . 

1 837. Cotton trade opens in a highly prosperous condition. Fall of cotton trom 
20 cents to 8 cents per lb. Ruin of cotton factors. General languor in cotton trade. 

One other fact growing out of the fall in the price of cotton in 
1837, omitted in the above extract, we here supply : to wit, that 
" negro men of prime quality" would fetch not more than $400 
or $500. If any further evidence is wanted that 

" 'I'he Christian brokers in tlie trade of blood, 
Buy men and sell them, steal, and kill/or gold,^' 

we refer the reader to John C. Calhoun's indignant allusion, last 
winter, to the nine hundred million dollars worth of slave pro- 
perty. . , 

It is the love of money, then, that leads to the buying and work- 
ing of slaves. And all the laws forbidding education, sanctioning 
cruelly, binding the conscience — in a word, all the details of the 



24 ADDRESS TO ABOLITIONISTS. 

system, — flow from the buying of men and holiling them as pro- 
perty, to which the love of money leads. Are we not, so far, 
correct ? 

II. Articles produced by slave-labor are stolen goods, be- 
cause every man has an inalienable right to the fruits of his own 
toil. It is unnecessary to prove this to abolitionists. Even 
slaveholders admit it. John C. Calhoun says : " He who earns 
the money — who digs it out of the earth with the sweat of his 
brow, has a just title to it against the universe. No one has a 
right to touch it without his conserd, except his government, and 
it only to the extent of its legitimate wants ; to take more, is rob- 
bery.^^ This is what slaveholders do. By their own confession, 
then, they are robbers. 

It is no small aggravation of their offence, moreover, that in 
order to get the labor of slaves without wages, a system has been 
adopted which robs them of every thing else. In the language of 
Charles Stuart, "their bodies are stolen, their liberty, their right 
to their wives and children, their right to cultivate their minds, 
and to worship God as they please, iheir reputation, hope, all vir- 
tuous motives are taken away by a legalized system of most mer- 
ciless and consummate iniquity. Such is the expense at which 
articles produced by slave-labor are obtained. They are always 
heavy with the groans, and often wet with the blood, of the guilt- 
less and suffering poor." 

But, say some, " we admit that the slaves are stolen property ; 
and yet the cotton raised by their labor is not, strictly speaking, 
stolen, any more than the corn raised by means of a stolen horse." 
In reply, we say that it is stolen. In every particle of the fruit of 
a man's labor he has a property until paid for that labor, unless it 
is performed under a contract, express or implied, by which he 
has relinquished his claims. The slave is under no such contract. 
He, therefore, who sells the produce of his toil before paying him, 
sells stolen property. If the case of the corn raised by means of a 
stolen horse be parallel, it only proves the duty of abstaining from 
that also. If it be not parallel, it proves nothing. 

If, then, the products of slave-labor are stolen goods, and not 
the slaveholder's property, he has no right to sell them. 

We are now prepared to examine the relation between the con- 
sumer of slave produce and the slaveliolder, and to prove that it is 
guilty — all guilty. Our proposition is this: 

By using the products of SLAVE-bABOR, KNOWINGLY, WE BE- 
COME partakers IN THE CRIME OF SLAVEHOLDING. 

If slaveholding be a crime, this proposition must be true, or 
aiding in the commission of a criminal act is no participation in the 
crime. Was not William liloyd (Jarrison correct in holding " the 
proposition to l)c scl/'-cridcnt, that no transfer, or inheritance, or 
purchase, or sale, of stolen properly, can convert it into a justpos- 



ADDRESS TO AHOLlTIONlSTS. 25 

session, or destroy the claim of its original owner — the maxim 
being universally conceded to be just, that the receiver is as bad 
as the thief?" — Liberator, Vol. II., No. 1. 

If the purchaser of slave produce is not a " partaker of other 
men's sins," where will you find such a character ? 

1. lie gives his sanction to the plunder of the slave. This, at 
first view, seems self-evident. But some deny it, and assert that 
the mere act of purchasing the goods of the slaveholder is no more 
an approval of the injustice by which those goods were obtained, 
than of any other crime of which the seller may be guilty. Nay, 
that, with the greatest abhorrence of his injustice, the purchase 
of its products may be made for the very purpose of counteracting 
it. No man, it is said, understands the act of purchasing a bale of 
cotton, as admitting the morality of refusing pay to the people who 
hoed and picked it, any more than that it was raised, ginned, and 
pressed in the most economical way. 

This reasoning contains a manifest fallacy. It is no better than 
most palpable and clumsy sophistry. The veriest child knows 
; that the stolen properly has not the same connexion with the thief's 
I other crimes as with his act of theft ; and that bad morality in the 
mode of procuring goods is a somewhat stronger objection to re- 
ceiving them, than bad economy in their production. 

That devoted friend of the suffering, Thomas Shipley, was wont 
to illustrate this subject by supposing that slavery had never ex- 
isted in this country, and that a company should how? be formed to 
prosecute some branch of agriculture or manufactures by means of 
coerced and unrequited toil. Who that has either conscience or 
humanity would patronise that company by buying the goods it 
would throw into the market? Were the use of slave-labor to be 
now originated, we should all reject its fruits. Can its long con- 
tinuance alter its moral character, or change our duty ? 

As to purchasing the products of injustice for the very purpose 
of counteracling that injustice, we have only to say, that we are 
not of the number of those who believe that the "end sanctifies 
the means," and that " we should do evil that good may come," 
We, therefore, re-affirm that our use of the products of slave-labor is 
a practical sanction of the robbery. 

First. So far as that single act is concerned, it manifests a will- 
ingness, on the part of the consumer, that the rightful owner shall 
remain deprived of the property which has been stolen from him. 
In fact, if the original thief begins the injury to the rightful owner, 
the purchaser continues it. This seems to us a truth so plain, that 
argument would be wasted alike in attempting to prove or to dis- 
prove it. The inference then seems fair — at least a natural one 
for the robber to draw — that his offence is not thought a very atro- 
cious one. Instead of meeting the eye of stern rebuke, and hear- 
ing the voice of condemnation, reproving his wicked act, he is, by 

4 



26 ADDRESS TO ABOLITIONISTS. 

the purchase of the stolen property, treated as an honest man, en- 
gaged in a rightful business ; for 

Secondlt/. Our buying goods of a person implies our belief in 
Ills right to sell them. Especially is this the case where the seller 
claims a right to the goods and to the disposal of them. If he has 
not that right, no one has a right to buy. By buying the products 
of the slave's labor, then, abolitionists practically admit either that 
their charge of robbery against the slaveholder is false, or that they 
are partakers of other men's sins. 

2. Nor is this all. The purchasers of slave produce ?iot only 
sanctions crime when committed, but directly tempts to its com- 
mission. We have already shown that the slaveholder's object 
is to make money. Without pay, he will no more raise cotton 
for Its, than his overseer will manage his plantation for him. As 
the salary is the temptation which induces the overseer to follow 
that degrading employment, so the profit which we pay the 
slaveholder, on his rice, cotton, and sugar, is Jiis temptation to 
enslave. You say, if there were no market for slaves the slave- 
trade would cease? Is it not as true that, if there were no market 
for slave produce, slavery would cease? The slave-buying 
planter is the tempter of the Guinea merchant. Is not the man 
who buys the fruits of the slave's labor the tempter of the slave- 
holder and the slave-buyer? 

The following extracts are so much to the point that we cannot 
forbear introducing them here. The first is from the pen of 
William Lloyd Garrison, and was published in the Liberator for 
April 23, 1831. 

" The abettors of crime are as giiilty as the perpetrators. The assertions which 
have been made are true — that the consumers of the productions of slave-labor 
contribute to a lund for supporting slavery, with all its abominations — that tliey are 
the Alpha and the Omega of ihebusiness— that the slave-dealer, the slave-holder, 
and the slave-driver, are virtually the agents of the consumer, for by holding out the 
temptation, he is the original cause, the first mover in the horrid ])rocess — that we 
are called upon to refuse those articles of luxury, whicli are obtained at an absolute 
and lavish waste of the blood of our fellow men — and that a meixhant, who loads his 
vessel with the|)roceeds of slavery, does nearly as much at helping forward the slave- 
tiade, as he that loads his vessel in Africa with slaves ; they are boUi twisting the 
same rope at difterent ends. 

" A few interrogations will suffice to illustrate this business. 

" If a merchant patronise a pirate, w l.o has |ilundcred vessels on the high seas, and 
pay him liberally for so doing, is he not himself a pirate in principle ? Is it true that 
'the receiver is as bad as the thief r' Is not the man who bi-ibes his companion to 
stab a third person to the heart, the greater criminal of the two, though he shed no 
blood ? 

" 'there can be no difficulty here. Every body will answer in the affirmative. 
These are self-evident truths. Now for the application. 

" Why are the slaves held in bondage.'' Certainly not to fulfil any prophecy ; — 
not on the ground of benevolence ; — not bt cause their liberation w ould be dangerous: — 
nf) such thing ; — bitt btcnuse they are projilable to their owners. Who are the prin- 
cipal consumers of the products of slave-labor f 'I'he free states. They fui-nish a 
good market for the South. What is this, but putting an immense bribe into the 
hands of the slaveholders to kidnap, steal, and opjjress i" Were it not lor our patron- 
:iH<-, they "onid be compelled to libi late ibtirslaves. The prophecy of Mr. Itandolph 
will then be liiirilled: the >!a\<s will not run a«av from their masters, but the 



ADDRESS TO ABOLITIONISTS. 27 

masters from llielr slaves. We are, then, the warmest and most efticient supporters 
of slavery, and t'eel no compunttioiis visitings of conscience in purchasing those tilings 
which are stolen, and which have heen moistened with the tears and blood of the slave. 
If 'the receiver is as bad as the thief,' surely he is more criminal who gives a yearly 
stilari/ to the robber. Is there any flaw in the argument ? Are not the cases 
parallel. ""' 

The next extract will show how slaveholders reason on this 
subject. It is from a sermon preached in 1837, in Columbia, 
South Carolina, by Samuel Dunwoody, a Methodist minister. 

" Another metaphysical argument of the anti-slaveholders, and upon which they 
lay a most unreasonable stress, is, the receiver, say they, is as had as the thief. The 
idea here intended to be conveyed, is, that as slavery is morally wrong in every in- 
stance, all that are concerned with the subject, either directly or indirectly, must be 
guilty of moral evil. 

" Suppose a West India planter should purchase a large number of slaves, for the 
purpose of increasing his wealth. Would he be guilty of moral evil in so doing ? 
Most certainly, says the anti-slaveholder. But suppose he should employ these slaves 
iu the culture of sugar and coffee, in order to make his money out of them ; lie must 
necessarily sell the sugar and coffee, the product of the slaves' labor, in order to accom- 
plish his main design. Every person, then, who purchases sugar or coffee, in reality 
encourages the slave-trade. But the anti-slaveholders at the North are in the habit of 
buying and using sugar and coffee ; therefore, they encourage the slave-trade in so 
«loing; and thus they are guilty of moral evil on their own principles. And, for the 
same reason, it would be morally wrong for a Northern merchant to buy a single bale 
of cotton from a Southern planter ; for that is likewise the product of slave-labor. ' 

3. The purchaser of slave produce is, himself, virliially the 
plunderer of the slaves. This may be a startling proposition to 
some ; and perhaps many, who are unconscious of a desire to do 
such a deed, and even regard it with holy abhorrence, will at once 
deny the charge. Still we affirm that, — wittingly or not, — they 
do plunder the slaves. The truth of the accusation appears from 
what has already been said. What we hire another to do for us, 
is morally our own act. He who hires an artist to engrave a 
counterfeit bank note, is none the less a counterfeiter because he 
performs none of the manual labor of preparing the plate or print- 
ing the bills. And the consumers of slave produce who pay for 
the raising of those articles by slave-labor, are slaveholders. 
Where is the flaw in the argument? "None are so blind as those 
who will not see." The South understands clearly the relation of the 
North to the system of slavery. More than once have her distin- 
guished men reproached us with being, in fact, the slaveholders, 
while they were to us, as really as the overseers upon their 
plantations to them, mere agents. What could we answer them ? 

Objection. But, says the objector, " in order to show that 
our use of slave products does actually have the effect to aid and 
encourage the slaveholder to continue his sin, it must be shown 
that our abstinence will prevent, or at least tend to prevent, his 
continuance. And this cannot be done, without showing a rea- 
sonable probability that our abstinence will produce a sensible 
eff'ect upon the market." — We answer 

First. That the whole body of consumers of slave produce 



28 ADDRESS TO ABOLITIOXISTS. 

sustain slavery, no one denies. Each consumer is part of the 
whole, and whatever the whole does, each part — even though so 
small that its influence is too minute for calculation — helps to do. 
If len million stockholders hold in equal shares a hundred thousand 
dollars, does not each, though contributing but a single cent, aid 
in promoting the common objectof the investment ? So with each 
purchaser of slave produce. The abstinence of all the abolitionists 
might not yet exert so great an influence upon the market as to 
make slave-labor iinprojitahle ; but, subtracting; from the total 
consumption so much as that of a single individual, would, to a 
certain degree, diminish its profits. " Every atom of slave pro- 
duce which is used, actually and directly sustains slavery, as far 
as it goes." Of course, every purchaser of slave produce contri- 
butes, in a measure, to that result. " He is not ihejlfty million; 
all that the fifty million can do, therefore, he is not required to do; 
but he is one, and what one can do, is required of him." If, then, 
we gain no more than this, we diminish the profits of slavery, and 
thus weaken one of the man-stealer's principal motives to resist 
our appeals to his reason and conscience. The shrine-maker in 
Ephesus stopped his ears against the truth, because his business 
brought him great gain. Interest, real or supposed, blinds the 
eyes of Southern slaveholders. They would be more likely to 
give heed to anti-slavery arguments, if they did not think their 
system profitable, than if they were realizing immense wealth. 

" The whole community is made up of individuals. Should 
every individual always take it for granted, that his own exertions 
in any cause could produce no good eff"ects, all works of benevo- 
lence, which require a general co-operation, would go on but 
slowly. Besides, there is every prospect that, so far from any 
person who entered upon this cause being alone, he would soon 
find himself united with many others." His example would lead 
others to adopt the practice, and theirs would influence others, and 
theirs others still, until the little leaven would leaven the whole 
lump. 

It is justly observed by a correspondent of the Liberator, (vol. I. 
p. 78,) that, " by using slave produce, each one to himself, so large 
a number may be kept from adopting the measure, as each one 
admits might, by adopting it, pro(hire the desired effect. But the 
more direct answer to the objection is, tliat if the use of these 
productions is positively assisting (in however small a degree) to 
keep men in slavery, no one, who considers it wrong to keep them 
so, is at liberty to assist even to this trifling extent. Let, then, 
each individual, who is persuaded of the propriety of this measure, 
look around him, and see if there is not some one, if no more, 
whom he can influence, and induce to join in it." 

Secondhf. We may safely assert that, if in this measure all 
would unite whose avowed principles seem clearly to demand it, 
and all whose relations to shivcrv render it in some sort ptculi.irly 



ADDRESS TO ABOLITIONISTS. 29 

their duty to do SO, a very "sensible effect upon the market" would be 
produced. The Society of Friends, consistently with their testi- 
mony against the use of prize goods, and goods fraudulently 
obtained, of which character pre-eminently are the products of 
slave-labor, ougut to be among the foremost in this work. They 
number, according to the American Almanac, 150,000. The last 
annual report of the American Anti-Slavery Society informs us, that 
there were in May, 1838, (the time when it was written,) about 
180,000 members of Anti-Slavery Societies in the United States. 
Probably there are many abolitionists not belonging to any Society. 
Besides these, many persons agree with us in most points, but not 
in all. The co-operation of some of these might be reasonably 
expected. Indeed, some of them do now conscientiously abstain. 
But, without counting this last class, since its number, though 
doubtless large, is indefinite, and reckoning the Friends who belong 
to anti-slavery societies at 10,000, we have an aggregate of 
320,000, whom consistency, we think, requires to withdraw at 
once their pecuniary aid from that system of abominations which 
they profess to abhor. Add to these the free colored people, — 
who, as in a measure identified with the slaves, might be expected 
to sympathize deeply with them, and to be especially ready to 
avoid participation in the fruits of oppression, — and the sum will 
exceed 600,000. 

It has been computed that ten persons consume the produce of 
the labor of one slave. If this be correct, the abstinence of 600,000 
could not but make a perceptible difference in the profits of slave- 
labor, and consequently in the demand for slaves. It must 
sensibly impair the strength of oppression's blood-cemented 
bulwarks. 

We pretend not, from these data, to determine, with mathematical 
precision, by how much the number of slaves, the value of their 
labor, or the ratio of their increase will be diminished; or at what 
rate the number of voluntary manumissions would be augmented. 
We freely admit that circumstances exist which could hardly be 
bent into an accurate estimate, and the influence of which, in modi- 
fying the result, could not with any reasonable degree of certainty 
be measured. Each reader is left, therefore, to carry out the calcu- 
lation according to his own judgment, and to arrive at such conclu- 
sion as to him appears legitimate. But one thing all will probably 
concede: — that a strict adherence, by 600,000 persons, to the plan 
we recommend would produce an impression, and that not a small 
one, on the market for slave produce, and on the profitableness of 
slave-labor. 

Thus much for the influence of abstinence on the pecuniary sup- 
port of slavery. In the proper place we purpose to show that even 
without reference to this consideration, its effect is beneficial, on 
however small a scale it is practised. 

4. The consumer of slave produce is a partaker in the crime of 



30 ADDRESS TO ABOLITIONISTS. 

slavehohlbig, because, by such consumption, he withholds one very 
important testimony against slavery as a sin. By abstaining from 
the products of slave-labor we bear a constant and powerful testi- 
mony against slavery. It is equivalent to saying that we regard it 
as a heinous sin. "Yonder are the hogsheads of sugar and molasses, 
the bales of cotton, the rice, and the indigo! Now suppose that 
no one would buy them, because obtained by robbery. No one 
consumes them — not because they are not wanted, for they are 
wanted ; but because the curse of the suffering and outraged poor 
is upon them." Will the masters be unrebiiked by such sacrifices, 
made rather than partake of the fruits of their sins ? 

In every possible way, that does not conflict with other duties, 
we are bound to testify against this sin. The reason of this obliga- 
tion is to be found in the enormity of the evil, and in the ruin it is 
every moment producing. Shall we then refuse to bear our testi- 
mony against it by abstinence from its products? If " actions speak 
louder than words," how loudly would our abstinence declare our 
conviction of the sinfulness of slaveholding ! And if merely pro- 
claiming with tongue and pen and press the immorality of slavery, 
does so much towards promoting its abolition, how irresistible will 
be the effect of preaching its sinfulness by our constant practice ! 

Elizur Wright, jr., of New York, though dissenting from our 
views of duly in this matter, asserts that the practice of abstaining 
from West India sugar, which prevailed to some extent in Great 
Britain, while Clarkson was assailing the slave-trade, '■'■produced a 
great and salutary effect on the minds of thousands'''' even of 
those who did not adopt it. " It was a loud and practical rebuke 
of slavery. It was an index of sincerity and zeal. Itivas an ever- 
present memento of the oppressed. It was truly, as our amiable 
coadjutors, the Friends, call it, ' a testimony.^ ^' — Now we contend 
that all this the slaves have a right to claim, — that all this is due 
to the cause of truth and righteousness. 

One word more under this head. In this controversy against 
slavery, as in other moral conflicts, "he who is not for us, is 
against us," and he wiio "gathereth not with us, scattereth abroad." 
Refusal to join an anti-slavery society is regarded by the world as 
evidence eitiier of opposition to the society, or of an indifierence as 
fatal as opposition itself. By declining to act in any particular 
practicable way against slavery, we give our opponents occasion 
to question the sincerity of our professed convictions of its enormity, 
and the duty of acting vigorously for its overthrow. However 
faithfully or efficiently we labor in other ways against slavery, if 
we use its products, we to some extent give our influence in its 
favor, and thus counteract our own exertions. We act like the 
man who should set one foot upon the load lie is endeavoring to 
lift from the ground. 

5. The consumer of slave produce is a partaker of the sin of 
slaveholding, because he diminishes the influence of his unti- 



ADDRESS TO ABOLITIONISTS. 



31 



slavery efforts. It is probably true, generally, if not universally, of 
those who abstain from the products of slave labor, that, since 
adopting this course, they have felt a livelier zeal, a deeper abhor- 
rence of slavery, more tenderness of conscience, and a warmer 
sympathy with the sufTering. Elizur Wright, jr., says of the 
practice of the British abstainers just alluded to, - there can be no 
doubt that it produced a great and salulary effect upon their own 
minds" We fully believe him. There is sound philosophy in 
the statement. He who abstains from slave produce, meets me- 
mentos of the slave wherever he turns. Scarcely a meal he eats, 
but he is reminded of the lash and the fetter and the unrequited 
toil. Scarcely a garment can he purchase or wear, but has a voice. 
Then the consciousness that he is striving to keep his own hands 
clpan and unpolluted with the gains of oppression, gives energy to 
his mind, and strength to his hand, and increased et^iciency to his 
action in other departments of anti-slavery labor. The writer, last 
quoted, justly remarks, that " reformers must be, or, at least, must 
honestly aim to be, pure of the sin they rebuke. This is requisite, 
not only to commend them to the consciences of others, but to save 
them from the goadings of their own. 'A sinful heart makes feeble 
hand.' " Acting inconsistently with our avowed principles, unfits 
us for rebuking the errors and misdeeds of others, and of course 
impairs the force of our rebukes. The professed temperance man 
who preaches total abstinence from strong drink, and is known to 
take an occasional sip of brandy— however infrequent or however 
small— even though he should not suffer in health, or become a 
drunkard, could hardly expect to be a very successful advocate of 
the temperance cause. It may safely be doubted whether that 
minister of the gospel, so called, who told his congregation to do as 
he said and not as he did, ever made many converts to righteous- 
ness. But how much more wisely or consistently do we act, if 
we preach against slavery, and at the same time uphold it by con- 
suming its products. Governor Hayne's reply to Daiael Webster 
on the Tariff question has not yet been forgotten. His biting 
retort would probably be thrown in our faces more frequently, if 
the South were not afraid of thereby driving us as a body to take 
the consistent ground of abstinence. 

As Elizabeth Heyrick truly says, " we must purge ourselves from 
these pollutions. Then, and not till then, we shall speak with the 
all-commanding eloquence of sincerity and truth, and all our per- 
suasions will be backed by the irresistible argument of consistent 
example:' Without that argument, can we expect to gain the same 
credit as with it, for the genuineness of our devotion to the cause 
of humanity? If we are unwilling to make the sacrifice which ab- 
staining from slave produce requires, can we prove our readiness 
to do and suffer all that a strict adherence to correct principles may 
demand? If abolitionists refuse to forego the slave-raised luxuries 
which gratify the palate, or to substitute at a small advance of price 



32 ADDRESS TO AliOLITlONISTS. 

the products of free labor, with what consistency can they call 
upon the slaveholder to make much greater sacrifices to holy prin- 
ciple ? 

Finally. Our abstinence promotes discussion of the subject of 
slavery. When, as often happens, we sit with others at a table 
spread in part with blood-bought luxuries, and our reason for de- 
clining to partake of them is asked, the answer brings at once to 
view the slave's condition, and naturally introduces a discussion of 
his wrongs and the means for their redress. 'J'his is the very thing 
we want. Free discussion is the vital air of abolitionism. 

Such are our reasons for believing abstinence from slave produce 
to be a duty. To this doctrine objections have been raised, which 
we now proceed to consider. 

Objection I. Abstinence from slave produce is " the exaltation 
of a physical expedient into the place of moral power^ for the 
removal of slavery" — a moral evil. " Starving is not convincing." 
Making slave produce unprofitable is " not an argument to the 'un- 
derstanding and conscience' of any body, but an argument addressed 
solely to the pockets of the planters." " It lets down, mars, and 
secularizes the glorious plan of emancipation which has been 
adopted." 

We reply: If it is our duty to avoid participation with other 
men's sins, it is none the less our duly, because we cannot do right 
without rendering it more difficult for others to do wrong. We 
abstain because moral principle requires it. The efTect of our 
abstinence on the interest of the slaveholder, and, through that, on 
the system of slavery, is a necessary incident for which, even if it 
were matter of regret, we are no more responsible, than we should 
be for the inability of a distiller to maintain his mischievous busi- 
ness in consequence of our refusal to purchase his liquid poisons. 
The " physical expedient" is not exalted " into the place of moral 
power," but is merely an unavoidable consequence of the proper 
application of such power. 

Objection II. " Suppose the whole world should abstain from 
these products, and the slave states should thereby be compelled 
formally to abolish slavery. So far as the abolition was produced 
by these means, it would rest on no principle but necessity, — it 
would be a slavish act. The sin would be unrepented of; and the 
chance is, that the reformation would be rather nominal than real. 
For there could not be, in the Southern states, as in the West In- 
dies, hosts of special justices to watch the unwilling benefactors, 
and secure the rights of the weaker party." 

This objection would apply with equal force against abstaining 
from the purchase of any species of stolen goods, and against every 
law ever enacted, affixing a penalty to the commission of crime. 
Hut w(»uld the objector consider it valid in these cases? If not, 
why in the present? 

'J'he answer to the previous objection will also apply to this. To 



ADDRESS TO ABOLITIONISTS. 33 

that we may add, that, even admitting what the objector says, it is 
better the master should do right with wrong motives, than do 
wrong with wrong motives. Better reform his outward act while 
his heart is unconverted, than remain at once inwardly corrupt and 
outwardly immoral. Besides, it will be easier to convince his un- 
derstanding, awaken his conscience, and effect a genuine reforma- 
tion of heart as well as life, when his strongest temptation to sin is 
removed — when he no longer thinks that interest is on the side of 
vice, nor feels those continual accessions of strength to his habits 
of wrong-doing with which the constant tenor of his external acts 
now fortifies him in sin, nor finds it necessary to seek out argu- 
ments in defence of robbery and oppression, in order to vindicate 
his own daily practice and silence the voice of the accuser in his 
own bosom. 

To the intimation in the objection that the slave's condition will 
be only nominally changed without being improved, we answer, 
that even admitting what the objector asserts, that the master's op- 
pressiA'e disposition would still remain, it is yet something gained 
that the law no longer sanctions but now condemns its exercise, 
and that the slave's right is acknowledged, even if impediments are 
thrown in the way of its enjoyment. While at the worst nothing is 
lost ; for moral means can still be used to convert the master, and 
enlist his will as well as his interest on the side of justice ; and, 
as we have already remarked, serious obstacles to their success 
would have been removed, and they would act with greater efficacy. 
In the language of (Charles Stuart, " as soon as the slaveholders 
were satisfied that they could never sell another pound of sugar, 
(fee, wrung by force and fraud out of the outraged slave, but that 
they would be sure of an abundant market for the same things 
fairly obtained by hired and voluntary labor, they would be as 
eager for immediate and thorough emancipation, at home, under 
law, as the abolitionists now are, and in this awakened and 
dominant sense of their oivn interest, benevolence would have a 
better security for the new liberty on these principles bestowed, 
than all the special justices in the world could yield. We have a 
striking instance of this in Antigua.* It was ^^o^ic*/, not righteous- 
ness — interest, not benevolence, which prompted the former slave- 
holders of that island to the immediate and thorough emancipation 
of their slaves, on the spot. Yet it was a perfectly voluntary 
act, — properly speaking, their own act, in view of exactly the 
same influences as all the world's abstaining from slave produce 
would exercise universally upon slaveholders ; and the same sense 
of interest which prompted them to the act, has been found ten 

♦Since that was penned, other West India islands have abolished the apprentice- 
ship system, which was a remnant of slavery, not from conscience, but interest. The 
odes written, and addresses delivered, in cek^bration of this event, even by persons 
who do not agree vvitli us as to the duty of abstinence, show that they do not, in real 
life, regard as valid the objection we are considering. 

5 



34 ADDRESS TO ABOLITIOXISTS. 

thousand times more efficient than any extraneovs superintendence 
could possibly have been, in securing the rights of the weaker 
party." 

Objection III. The practice of abstinence must necessarily 
lead to great waste of things in themselves good. You must throw- 
away all the slave-produced goods in your possession ; for if it 
was sinful to buy them, it is sinful to use them. 

We reply; the inference is not sustained by the premises, for 
to throw away the articles, would as much encourage slavery, as 
to use them. If their price has gone into the hands of the slave- 
holder, all the support which slavery can derive from them has 
already been secured, and so far as the influence on that system of 
iniquity is concerned, one disposition of them will be the same as 
another. If, then, we abstain from all future purchases which 
will put money into the slaveholder's pocket, and from the use of 
those things whose place, when they are consumed, will be sup- 
plied by such purchases, there is no occasion to waste or destroy 
what we have already purchased. So it seems to us ; but we leave 
this question to each one's conscience, hoping no one will refuse 
full obedience to that monitor. We may remark, however, that 
even admitting the alleged necessity, the objection proceeds on 
the utterly erroneous assumption, that destruction is of course 
waste. Use itself results in destruction, but it is not deemed waste. 
Why ? Because the good enjoyed in using and so consuming the 
article, is greater than would flow from its preservation ; and there- 
fore preservation would be the real waste. If, then, in any 
case, the entire and instant destruction would produce more 
good than the use of an article, such use would be the true waste, 
and destruction the true economy. The seed sown in our fields 
is not wasted. If the speedy abolition of slavery should be the 
effect of an instant destruction of all the slave produce now in ex- 
istence, would not the harvest be worth the seed ? 

Another thought may be worth presenting. The apprehended 
waste, it is clear, can only come from the general adoption of the 
practice we recommend. If such general adoption should be in- 
stantaneous, its necessity and reason would very speedily cease; 
as slavery would be almost immediately abolished ; and the goods 
on hand — not having had time to perish — could be innocently used. 
Their consumption, then, would not uphold a system which had 
ceased to exist. If not instantaneous, then, during its gradual 
progress, slave-raised goods would be consumed as now by those 
who have no scruples on the subject, and the gradual spread of 
these scruples being accompanied by a gradual disappearance of 
slave produce, and the introduction equally gradual of the fruits 
of free labor, there would be no waste of either. 

Objection IV. A fourth ol)jeclion is made up of the statement of 
extreme cases, and the allegation that it is impossible entirely to 
abstain. We are asked, what shall be done by the crews of vessels 



ADDRF.SS TO ABOLITIONISTS. 



35 



driven by storms into davehokling ports; or by men who become 
convinced of the sinfulness of slavery, while residing in the midst 
of a slave state, where to remain or whence to escape, without the 
use of slave produce, is alike impossible. We are reminded that if 
we travel in stage-coach or steam-boat, we shall find slave cotton in 
the linings of the one and the bedding and tablecloths of the other;— 
that in every book or paper which we read, we handle the unclean 
thing, and that even anti-slavery publications must be suspended till 
paper unstained with slavery can be procured to write and print 
upon. Nay, that then the difficulty will not be escaped, for the 
coin with which we pay the printer, and the boards of his 
office floor, as well as of our own dwelling houses, are perhaps 
made of slave-wrought materials. 

To all this we answer, extreme cases do not make general rules, 
and the necessity of the case justifies nothing which is not neces- 
sary. It was well replied by a Quaker woman in Vermont, to one 
who urcred this objection, " if thou can'st not avoid soiling thy shoe- 
soles, that is no reason for thy wading through the middle of the 
mud-puddle." Let those who start these difficulties, be cautious 
to abstain from the fruits of slave-labor in all but the really "ex- 
treme cases," and never to use them but when it is absolutely ne- 
cessary, and we will promise not to quarrel with them about their 
exceptions. 

In reply to that form of the objection which presents the difficul- 
ties that would attend the prosecution of the anti-slavery enter- 
prise, it might not be impertinent to ask the objector if he would 
deem it right for an abolitionist to hold slaves, for the purpose ot 
making money to give to the Anti-Slavery Society ? If not, why 
may he for the same purpose ^u»'t>^rs to do the same thing? 

Once more. For what puri.V)se are we told that difficulties at- 
tend the maintenance of our doctrine, and that ingenious objec- 
tions, hard to be disposed of, can be brought against it? If all this 
may be true, and yet the doctrine may be right and sound, then 
it is not disproved by the statement of these facts, and the argu- 
ment against it, grounded on them, is without force. But if the 
doctrine cannot be correct, concerning which such facts may be 
truly alleged, then that of our opponents, who maintain that it is 
right to use slave produce, must be unsound and untrue. For they 
cannot deny that very strong arguments, and extremely difficult to 
be answered, can be arrayed against their doctrine, and against 
the claims to consistency' of that man who at the same moment 
condemns slavery as a sin, and holds out the principal inducement 
to its commission. If the objection has any weight against us, 
then, it has at least as much against its authors. Let them, before 
urging it, wail till they have fairly proved that a voluntary partici- 
pation in the fruits of unrequited toil, is free from liability to 
serious objections grounded on the principles of moral rectitude. 

E. Wright's admission, (A. S. Quarterly Magazine, Vol. I. p. 



36 ADDRESS TO ABOLITIONISTS. 

398,) that we should be unwilling to use the products extorted 
from the toil of our near relatives, were they in slavery, and that 
" we should feel it a duty to abstain even at some inconvenience," 
if we had any chance of thereby exerting a moral influence in 
their favor, appears to us to confirm the doctrine of this address. 
Unless partaking tlie fniils of their unpaid labor sanctions its exac- 
tions, why should we be unwilling to use them ^ Why " not feel 
like sweetening our tea with sugar bought at the price of a bro- 
ther's blood," unless to do so would make us partners in the 
wirong inflicted on our brother ? But " have we not all one 
Father?" Are we not all, — bond and free, — brethren of one great 
family ? 

We are not aware that any other objections to our views have 
been offered, except such as have been already anticipated and met 
in the preceding pages, or such as are too frivolous to deserve a 
serious answer. We do not expect to remove all doubt from every 
mind, or so to solve every conceivable difficulty, and reply to 
every ingenious cavil, as to satisfy the captious, and convince the 
wilful and predetermined skeptic. Enough has been said to call 
attention to the subject presented, and to stimulate honest minds 
to inquiry and reflection. To you, friends of the slave, pledged 
champions of the rights of man, we now submit the question, 
whether you will elevate your standard of principle and action to 
the summit level of a pure morality, or lower it to that of a 
worldly policy, a supple, circumstance-moulded expediency; whe- 
ther your practice shall be sucli as will steel the slaveholder against 
your arguments and appeals, and worse than neutralize your in- 
fluence on his mind ; — or whether it shall exhibit such a preference 
of right to convenience, of tke interests of humanity to personal 
comfort, as will extort his admiratioiV, and be worthy of his imita- 
tion. To your own consciences.'in the sight of the motive-read- 
ing eye, we leave the decision. 

In behalf of the Committee appointed by tlie Requited Labor 
Convention, to prepare an address on the duty of abstaining from 
slave produce. 

Lewis C. Gunn. 



H 33 



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